Chapter 25 - Lilia
Did I just kill someone? Even as a member of a Bratva family that had ruled for generations, I never thought that would cross my mind. I could still feel the horrible tension, hear the sickly popping noise as the knife penetrated that guard’s skin and sank deep under his ribs.
He could be dead, but I couldn’t think about that now.
It wasn’t like I was about to turn around and administer first aid.
One thing I kicked myself over was not grabbing his phone before taking off down that treacherous hill.
I could have called for help by now and hid behind that big cluster of agave while I waited for one of my cousins to extract me.
Well, I wasn’t that quick-thinking, so I had to keep scrambling over the rough terrain.
Tiny pebbles dislodged themselves under my feet as I half slid down toward the wall of a house in the distance.
I skidded on my backside for several feet and had to dig in my heels to slow my momentum before I flipped headfirst into the small landslide my haste had created.
There was no shouting behind me, and when I grabbed onto a sturdy boulder to keep from rolling over the side of a sharp drop, I turned to see I was alone.
That didn’t mean I could breathe a sigh of relief.
I needed a phone or a better place to hide.
My bright red workout top stuck out like a sore thumb among the dusty, stunted trees and rocky terrain.
I started to run again, launching myself toward the perimeter wall. It was the closest place, and there was at least a chance the people there would let me use their phone before I continued further down the hill. Maybe they’d even shelter me until my cousins showed up.
Slamming into the wall, I hissed and rubbed my shoulder, the first thing that stopped my stumbling run. Praying there’d be no overzealous dogs on the other side, I hoisted myself up and over.
The backyard was slightly overgrown and unkempt.
The pool area had a fountain that was turned off, with a thin layer of debris on the water's surface.
All the curtains and blinds were shut tight, and as I picked my way across the vast yard, I tentatively called out a warning that I was approaching the door.
“Please, I need help,” I said, barely over a speaking voice. It still felt like someone would grab me at any moment.
For all I knew, one of Gavril’s men lived at this house, and I’d only be deposited in a car and driven back up the hill. It was a chance I had to take, and being inside the walls was better than being a moving target on the open slope.
Spotting a security camera at the corner of the poolhouse, I waved and kept moving toward the main house. There was another camera mounted on the wall between two windows and a back door, but it didn’t move when I walked past, and there was no light to let me know it was even working.
Taking a breath and offering up a prayer, I pounded on the door. The place was closed up like a tomb. After several minutes of calling through the door and knocking, it was clear no one was home and likely hadn’t been in several weeks.
After circling the big mansion once, I stopped to think. Some fist-sized decorative rocks surrounding a neglected flower bed called to me, and there was one window that didn’t seem to be covered by the security cameras, if they were even working.
Smash a window, climb in, find a phone, call Aleks. It sounded so easy and so tempting, but I had already tempted fate a lot. The likelihood that an alarm would sound and the cops would arrive before Aleks or another of my cousins was high. Too high to risk it.
Growing up in a crime family, I never had great faith in the police. After what happened to Dan’s fiancée after she placed her trust in a dirty FBI agent just a few months ago, I wanted nothing to do with law enforcement.
No smashing any windows today. The two choices left to me were climbing back over the wall and braving the dangerous slide down the hill to the next house, or risk hoofing along the road and staying hidden long enough to flag down a passing car.
I had already come way too close to rolling head over heels down that hill, and was covered in dirt and scratches from crashing into the prickly agave and cacti getting as far as I did.
The road seemed the lesser of the two evils, and I took off. It would have been nice to stay and rest, but I had already circled the house twice, and I feared a silent alarm might have already alerted a private security company.
I actually made it about a mile, and my hopes were soaring as I jogged along, getting closer and closer to civilization and a busier road.
As soon as I turned the bend leading to the final stretch before a busy intersection, I breathed out a pent-up sigh at the sight of a car careening around the corner and heading my way.
Before I got my arms up to wave it down, I froze. I knew that car all too well. I’d been tossed into the backseat and also made a mad dash from the front. Though I glanced wildly from side to side, I didn’t bother running again. I already knew how fast Gavril was.
And how determined.
He pulled up beside me as I stood there, wishing I could melt into the hot pavement beneath my tired feet. It was insane, but I ran a dusty hand through my equally dusty hair and walked in a dignified manner when he leaned over and shoved the passenger door open.
“That was a lot faster than I thought,” I said, as if I was doing him a favor by testing his security.
“Drones,” he said, looking me over and shaking his head. “Deployed as soon as Derek called in what you did. You were never going to get far.”
“So he’s okay, then?” I asked, the rush of relief mingled with regret that I should have stabbed twice or at least stolen his phone.
Gavril had the audacity to laugh. “Yes. Don’t sound so disappointed. I’d wager you never stabbed anyone before, right?” Then he scowled at me, touching the scrape on my shoulder beneath my torn sleeve. “Fucking hell, I thought you were hurt.”
I could see his own relief flooding his eyes. He was completely serious now as he prodded me for more injuries. He grumbled about flying out of a meeting, thinking I was trapped in a wildfire razing the hillside.
He was honestly upset, and when he looked at the scrape again, he scowled even harder. “Let’s get you home so you can clean up and put something on that. It looks like it hurts like hell.”
He was so concerned about a little bit of road rash that I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he drove back towards his compound. He kept up a steady grumbling, glancing at me like I might expire if he kept his eyes off me for more than a few seconds.
Was I suddenly glad I got caught? No, of course not. Not glad. But I knew I wasn’t getting away. There was never a chance of that. I had to try for my own pride, so I didn’t have to admit… What?
That a few passionate encounters had me completely under Gavril’s spell?
In order to prove that wasn’t the case, I glared at him the next time his eyes cut over to me. He lapsed into stony silence for the next minute or two it took to roll through the gates and up to the front of the house.
There were a few guards standing near the door, and they didn’t look happy with me. Gavril snapped at them to get back to their posts and put his arm around me as he herded me through the front door and away from their censure.
If I had killed that poor guy who had the bad luck to be the one I asked to go on a walk, would they have mutinied? Gavril seemed to think he needed to keep me safe from everyone and everything, and his arm remained locked around me until he all but shoved me into the library.
Ah, my safe place. Until I noticed that Gavril was still scowling, this time aimed firmly at me. “Have a seat,” he demanded, pointing to a dark blue velvet armchair. Actually, one of my favorites, nestled near the big marble fireplace.
I glanced around and moved toward one of the oversized leather chairs instead. A big hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me back. “Really,” he said. “It’s not worth it.”
“Maybe it is to me,” I said, but sat in the damn velvet chair, sick to death of having no choices left.
As soon as I sat, he paced for a moment, then pulled up a chair and sat across from me, waiting until I looked up from fiddling with my cuticles.
“You stabbed my guard,” he said needlessly, no longer laughing at how ludicrous it was.
Maybe he wouldn’t think it was so ludicrous if I had killed the guy. I let my eyes settle on his chest, where his heart should be, and imagined the decorative iron fireplace poker sticking out of it. I didn’t bother answering him because it wasn’t a question.
He sighed. “That wasn’t like you.”
It was my turn to laugh, but there was no humor in the hollow sound. “Yeah? So? Being myself never did me any favors.”
“I disagree. I think you’re amazing.”
My jaw dropped, but he only kept looking at me with eyes as deep as an endless forest. Just about the prettiest shade of green I ever saw. “What?” I was certain I had lapsed into an alternate reality for a moment.
“So what if you aren’t ruthless?” he asked with a shrug. “So what if you aren’t strong?”
“Okay, I get it. You don’t have to rub it in.”
I touched the scrape on my shoulder, and he stormed off, leaving me wondering what the hell was going on.
Maybe I hit my head and didn’t realize it at the time.
Gavril returned a moment later with a first aid kit and shoved my sleeve up.
He tore open a couple of alcohol pads with his teeth and pressed them against the scrape.
I hissed at the sudden pain and then clamped my lips together.
“See, you can be tough,” he said, pulling the pads away and dabbing ointment on the scrape. “The guard who needed stitches because of you certainly doesn’t think you’re a pushover now.”
“Big deal,” I sighed as he pasted a big bandage over my shoulder.
He sat back down across from me. “Stop blaming your so-called shortcomings for what happened to you. There was nothing you could have done to prevent it. One, you were deceived, and two, those men were twice your size. The only way you could have gotten out of being kidnapped was if you had a weapon.” He paused, giving me a hard look. “And knew how to use it.”
“Fine. I get it. I’m only partly useless.”
All I wanted was to hide in my room and try to bury my head in a book.
His gentle touch while fixing up my shoulder had weakened me again.
As he silently worked, I started leaning toward him.
If he hadn’t finished up quickly and sat back down out of reach, there was no telling what I would have done.
“Enough of that,” he said, harsh but still somehow kindly.
“Ideally, you should have killed my guard. I’m glad you didn’t, but if it had been a different situation where it was someone I wouldn’t mind being dead, you’d need to know where to stab.
Really, shooting is more efficient and gets the job done more often. ”
I stared at him for a long moment, his green eyes bright. He finally let himself smile. “What you need are lessons. How about it?”
“You’re going to teach me how to stab someone?” I asked, reaching to feel for a lump on my head. There was no way I wasn’t concussed. “And shoot?”
“Valuable skills you should already know,” he said. “Consider it as me righting a wrong.”
I would have huffed at that little dig against my family. Masha had been trying to get me to go to the firing range with her since we were kids. I kept staring at Gavril as I rubbed my head, but there was no pain and no lumps.
He was really offering to give me lessons in how to kill someone, way more serious than showing me how to use my noodle arms to punch. I couldn’t believe I wasn’t being punished, but in some way rewarded. His smile sealed it.
I jumped up out of the chair, invigorated and no longer wanting to run and hide in my room. The pages of a book held no challenge like finally holding a gun and learning to truly defend myself against all the foes I now knew were out there in the real world.
“Yes,” I said eagerly.
Of course, those foes included Gavril. Just not today.